Alchemy
by Dire Straits
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Dire Straits bestography
Alchemy is ranked 6th best out of 16 albums by Dire Straits on BestEverAlbums.com.
The best album by Dire Straits is Brothers In Arms which is ranked number 226 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,799.
(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).
Listen to Alchemy on YouTube
Alchemy track list
The tracks on this album have an average rating of 84 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).
Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.
Alchemy rankings
Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). Click to see how the rankings are calculated (Last updated: 3 hours ago)
| Year | Source | Chart | Rank | Rank Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | svk4ever | Top 50 Music Albums of 1984 | 15/50 | 4 |
| 2026 | LosWochos | Top 98 Music Albums of 1984 | 30/98 | 4 |
| 2026 | Exist-en-ciel | Top 76 Music Albums of 1984 | 31/76 | 3 |
| 2026 | MrOlan | Top 14 Music Albums of 1984 | 1/14 | 5 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum year 1984 | 25/71 | - |
| 2026 | cicadelic | Top 100 Music Albums of 1984 | 71/100 | 2 |
| 2026 | Skerns | Top 98 Music Albums of 1984 | 85/98 | 1 |
| 2026 |  Patman360 | Top 95 Music Albums of 1984 | 88/95 | 0 |
| 2026 | MrOlan | Top 99 Greatest Music Albums | 48/99 | 52 |
| 2026 | fabm0 | Platinum decade 1980s Pt 3 | 31/100 | - |
| Total Charts: The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. | 137 | |||
| Total Rank Score: The total rank score. | 592 | |||
Alchemy collection
Showing latest 20 members who have this album in their collection | Show all 123 members
Alchemy ratings
Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AVwhere:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.
Showing latest 3 ratings for this album. | Show all 226 ratings for this album.
| Rating | Date updated | Member | Album ratings | Avg. album rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ! | 09/03/2026 00:36 | Exist-en-ciel | 16,261 | 70/100 |
| ! | 07/19/2026 10:23 |  Tamthebam | 23,329 | 69/100 |
| ! | 04/25/2026 22:28 |  Robert Anton Wil | 1,150 | 84/100 |
Rating metrics:
Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)
This album is rated in the top 8% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 75.0/100, a mean average of 73.7/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 75.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 19.4.
Alchemy favourites
Showing latest 10 members who have added this album as a favourite | Show all 35 members
Alchemy forum mentions
Liedzeit 07/29/2026 16:26 in What album are you listening to? (cont.)
albummaster 08/19/2023 08:33 in Album of the day (#4625): Brothers In Arms by Dire StraitsView latest topic →
View all forum mentions
Alchemy comments
Top Comments First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
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Normally I prefer studio versions, but some of the songs here (e.g. Sultans of Swing and Telegraph Road) are so great that I never play the studio versions anymore. Mark Knopfler at his best! (Edited)
Sad that so few appreciate this album - simply the finest LIVE recording I've heard.
Mark Knopfler is, in my opinion, a true musical genius. His guitar-playing here is beyond remarkable. (Edited)
timtooky 04/08/2014 21:24 | #108812 | TOP COMMENT
Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.
i wish i could have been there. the live version of sultans of swing is so epic that it hurts.
Perfect album. It's almost 30 years and still it's my best
One of the best live albums ever, if not the best. Still hugely underrated with a 74/100 and 1253th place? I mean come on. Knopfler is on fire on this one! (Edited)
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